Wrapping machinery



May 1, 1951 J. A. GILBERT 2,550,920

WRAPPING MACHINERY Filed Oct. 3, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORZ BYJ. A. GI LBERT.

TTORNEYS.

M y 1951 J. A. GILBERT WRAPPING MACHINERY 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 3, 1946 INVENTORZ BYJRGILBERT.

A ORNEYS May 1, 1951 J. A. GILBERT WRAPPING MACHINERY 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 5, 1946 Eri FIG.3.

INVENTOR J.A.G|LBERT.

ATTOR NE Y5 Patented May 1, 1951 Joseph Arthurfiilbert, Gainsborough, England; assignorlto RosexBrothers (Gainsborough) .Lime item Gainsborough andiz a Briti hz rcomsrr Application OctoberB, 194e, seriarmi rooms In Great Britain October 1011945 I 4 Claims- (0!. 932) This invention relates to machines for-wrapping razor blades or other articles requiring :sim--- ilar manipulation (hereinafter-- referredto as blades y, and more particularly to the feedingof: the-bladesto thewrappin elementsof 'suchmachines;-

According tothe invention, there is provided a wrapping machine whereinthe -blades arefed from a source-of supply by an intermittently; rotatable transfer-member comprising two or morefeeding members each adapted in turn to seize a blade from thesource of supply and transfer itto the wrapping elements;- Preferably; thearrangement is such that onefeeding member seizesa blade from-the source of supply at the same time-as another feeding member deliversits bladeto the wrapping elements." The transfer member may comprise three, four, v six,- eight; or more feeding members andthere maybe arranged, between-the source of supplyand the wrapping elements one or-- more intermediate stations at which further functionsare-performed asthe-blades pass: For'instance; there may be a detecting-station at which the presence orabsence'of-a-bladeis determinedby a detecting de- -35. vice-which; upon detecting the absenceof a bladefromanyfeeding member, operates a mechanism for removing the faulty packagefromthe machine.

The feedingmembers on the transfer member may-be arranged to --picl-=up the blades -by sue;- tion, ormagneticallyor inany-- other suitable manner; and meansmay be i provided- A for stripping-the blade from the-feeding-member as -it-isdelivered to the wrapping elements. Such-stripping means may comprise a blast of air directed down-accentral nozzle. in the feeding member, or:-

thereimayu beprovided avpair of-stripping fingers ar iangfidto hold the blade in position as the.- feeding member is withdrawn,afterhdelivering the-T b ade Thersourpefl of supply; ofgbladesi may am. the orm-of pai a a n j o tainine n tackio blades, thabla-des being fedsi glv from; the base. of; the:, ma az ne n to a u tab a ine emberlfr hich therere nickes l pfiniiurn ba he f edin member The inv nt n a -been ou par cularlyz s z ful asapplied to the Wrapping of razorblades by mach ef he ame era ;k ,mi as;;tnat,-de l scribed in, my copending United States App lica q Sex-No. 6 52 fi1 'd Fe r aryfl, mallo Patent No, 2,545,273, March 13, 1951; correspond nato B itishhPatent Ap licati n No- /6:

fileulianuar y fli, .9 Such anvappl cation oi as the inventiona will now: be described; by way: of: example, withz'reference to the accompanying diam grammatic drawings, in which,

Figure 1:is a plan view of a 1301131011201 arazon blade wrapping machine, showing the blade-feeder ing station,

Figure 2 is a part-sectional elevation of'the ape paratus-shownin Figure 1, viewedjin thedirection'ofthe-arrow lin'Figure 1; and:

Figure -3 isaa conventional section of a portion;-

of" the apparatus i shown in Figure I, viewed in-v the direction of the arrow-21in Figure 1;

In general, the wrappin machine. comprises a: pocket wheel I I- formed with a series of 7 pockets ,f, l2w-ofa; size appropriate to-itheblades I3, the;

pocket wheel ll being caused to rotate through a portion of a-revolution-at a time so as to :bring each pocket l2-te rest in turnat each of-a series of stations disposed around the periphery :of the: pocket wheel. During'each restperiodof the pocket wheel lh an operation performed ata each station, and in this manner a completely wrapped blade=isdelivered at the delivery stationat each movement of the pocket-wheel. The mechanism a at the blade-feeding I stationwill now be described, reference-being madetol the abovementioned specification for further dewtails ofthegeneral construction and operation of the machine, as-a wholefif required;

The blades l3-are fed from the base of 'a=magazine l 4 by apusher member I 6 arranged to slide=- in a track I! forming part of the main frame work of the machine; the pusher- I6 being reciprocatedby-means of a: two-armedlever l8, l3,-

cam 24 secured to a shaft 26 which is arranged to-berotated in timed'relationship with the pocket wheel I l. Thepusherlfi carries the blades-l3 to a positionadjacent a rotatable transfer member 21; which is formed with four radial feeding-members 28:;each arranged'in turn to-pickup ablade;

from'the pusher-I6.

The transfermember 21 is attached to a sleeve 29 at the base of which is for me d:the slotted mea z.

her. 3 I of re, Geneva mfichanism. The sleeve 29. is, formed; ithr n' n la r ov 3 nd i l mounted on a sleeve valve 33 itself freely. mounted} ,aicen ralf up or ngl ll r 34 attached 1 o a.

boss 36 forming part of the main framework of;

Arranged in engagement with the recess 32 is a pair of shoes 38 freely mounted in a forked arm 39 of a two-armed lever 39, 4|, the arm 4| being provided with a freely mounted cam roller 42 arranged to bear against the face of a rotatable cam 43 secured to a cam shaft 44 driven in timed relationship with the pocket wheel The slotted member 3| is arranged in engagement with the crank member 46 of the Geneva mechanism which is freely mounted on a stationary shaft 41 secured in the main framework of the machine. The crank member 46 is of suflicient depth to allow of axial movement of the sleeve 29 by the' lever 39, 4|. The Geneva mechanism is driven by means of a bevel gear 48 secured to the crank member 46 and arranged in engagement with a further bevel gear 49 attached to a shaft 50 arranged to be driven in timed relationship with the pocket wheel I The feeding members 28 are each formed with a suction nozzle, 7 to which suction is applied through ports 52 in the feeding members 28, a suction chamber 53 formed in the sleeve valve 33, and ports 54 leading to a central suction chamber 55 formed in the pillar 34, suction being applied to the chamber 55 by means of a pump in known manner.

-In.operation, as veach pocket |2 (to which a liner and wrapper has previously been supplied) l6 also comes to rest in its forward position,

after removing a blade from the base of the magazine I4, and at this time the transfer member 2'! is just coming to rest after completing a quarter of a revolution under the influence of the Geneva mechanism 3!, 45, with opposed feeding members 28 immediately above the adjacent pocket l2 and the blade I3 on the pusher l6, respectively, andthe transfer member 21 is just approaching the bottom of its downward movemerit under the influence of the cam 43 and the two-armed lever, 39, 4|, which serves to reciprocate the sleeve 29 in timed relationship with the movement of the pocket wheel I at the same time as the sleeve 29 is being rotated by the Geneva mechansms 3|, 46. In the drawings, the transfer member 27 is shown in its lowermost position where one feeding member 28 is about to pick up a blade from the pusher I6 and the opposing feeding member 28 is about to deliver its blade to the adjacent pocket |2 of the pocket wheel H.

The sleeve valve 33 is also arranged for axial movement under the influence of a two-armed lever 66, 61, pivoted at 68, the arm 36 being forked and provided with a pair of shoes arranged to run in the annular groove 31, while the arm 61 is provided with a freely mounted cam roller 69 arranged to bear against the face of a rotatable cam H secured to the shaft 44. The shape of and it will thus be seen that after a blade has the suction chamber 53 and the timing of the cam H are such that suction is ap'plied'to the ports 52 a little before the nozzle El'descen'ds on to the blade IS on the pusher' l6 and continues until the blade is delivered into the pocket I2 when the port 52 in the adjacent'feeding member 28 is cut off from the chamber '53"by fur- 1 ther movement of the sleeve valve 33, such movement continuing until a pressure port 8|in'the sleeve valve 33 lies in register with the bore of a blast pipe 82 extending through the walls of the sleeve valve 33 and being fed with air under pressure from any convenient source. It will thus be seen that, as the blade is delivered to the pocket l2, it is removed from the nozzle 5| by a blast of air from the blast pipe 82.

Substantially simultaneously with the delivery of the blade l3 into the pocket l2, the sleeve 29 again starts to move upwardly under the influence of the cam 43 to cause the feeding member 28 adjacent the pocket wheel to lift clear of the pocket I2 and the upstanding wrapper, and the opposing feeding member 28 to lift a blade clear of the pusher l6, and as soon as the feeding members 28 are clear, the transfer member 21 and thepocket wheel H are caused once more to rotate through a portion of a revolution and the cycle of operations is repeated, the pusher l6 being withdrawn and moved forward to carry another blade |3 into the feeding position during each movement of the transfer member 21.

As mentioned above, the transfer member 21 is caused to move through a quarter of a revolution for each movement of the pocket wheel been picked up from the pusher I6, it is brought to rest at an intermediate station before being carried on to the pocket |2 of the pocket wheel. The intermediate station is utilised as a detecting station, and immediately the feeding member 28 comes to rest at the detecting station, a two-armed detecting lever 12, 13, pivoted at 14, is allowed to rock under the influence of a spring 76 by a rotatable cam Tl operating in timed relationship with the rotation of the transfer member 21. The rocking of the detecting lever 12, 73, causes a detector '18 on the arm 12 to move into contact with the blade, and if for any reason a blade is not present, the detector 18 moves be- Y fully described in the above-mentioned specification.

I claim:

1. A device for feeding razor blades or like articles from a source of supply to a wrapping machine, comprising a cylindrical supporting column, an intermittently rotatable suction transfer member rotatably mounted on said column and slidable thereon in axial directions, said transfer member being formed with at least two feeding members provided with suction passages and each adapted in turn to seize an article by suction contact with its upper surface and transfer it to the machine, the feeding members being so arranged that as one seizes an article another delivers an article, a suction passage in said column, a sleeve valve arranged concentrically with said column between said column and said transfer member, means for reciprocating the sleeve valve on said column for controlling the application of suction to said feeding members, means for moving said transfer member alternately in opposite axial directions so as firstly to move it into seizing and deliverin position and then to lift it clear of the source of supply and the machine; and

means for rotating said transfer member after the seizing of "each article to 'efiect the'tran'sfer.

2. A device according to claim 1, comprising a Geneva mechanism for rotating the transfer member, the Geneva mechanism including .a slotted member secured to the transfer member for axial movement therewith and being of such dimensions as to allow the axial movement of the transfer member while maintaining engagement between the two members of the Geneva mechanism.

3. A machine for wrapping razor blades or like articles, comprising a cylindrical supporting column, an intermittently rotatable suction transfer member rotatably mounted on said column and slidable thereon in axial directions, said transfer member bein formed with at least two feeding members provided with suction passages such dimensions as to allow the axial movement of the transfer member while maintainin engagement between the two members of the and each adapted in turn to seize an article by suction contact with its upper surface and transfer it to the machine, the feeding members being so arranged that as one seizes an article another delivers an article, a suction passage in said column, a sleeve valve arranged concentrically with said column between said column and said transfer member, means for reciprocating the sleeve valve on said column for controlling application of suction to said feeding members, means for moving said transfer member alternately in opposite axial directions so as firstly to move it into seizing and delivering position and then to lift it clear of the source of supply and the machine, means for rotating said transfer member after the seizing of each article to transfer the article to a pocket of a movable pocketed member to which a wrapper has been previously applied, means for folding the wrapper about the article to form a wrapped package, and a detecting mechanism operable Geneva mechanism.

JOSEPH ARTHUR GILBERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,355,296 Winkley Oct. 12, 1920 1,685,601 Gangler Sept. 25, 1928 1,935,739 Freese Nov. 21, 1933 1,984,031 Purdy et a1 Dec. 11, 1934 2,253,283 Minaker Aug. 19, 1941 2,325,774 Hohl Aug. 3, 1943 2,359,432 McNamara Oct. 3, 1944 2,359,433 McNamara Oct. 3, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 593,367 Great Britain Oct. 15, 1947 

